Katarzyna Kotula, the country’s Equality Minister, stated that she has a bachelor’s degree, referring to the publication of the Strefa dziennica website about the controversy surrounding her education. – I do not have a master’s degree and I have never applied for positions that require it, – she emphasized.
– I have higher education, bachelor’s degree. I do not have a master’s degree and I have never applied for positions that require it, said Katarzyna Kotula, the minister of equality, in response to accusations of lying on the matter.
“Katarzyna Kotula stated that she completed her master’s degree at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań in 2016. Such information was available on the Parliament’s website in August 2024. In the biography of the Parliament’s website we can read:” Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Faculty of English, English Philology – MA (2016)'” – Strefa Edukacji website reports, attaching a screenshot of the parliamentary website.
Meanwhile, according to the information obtained by the university’s website, the minister did not present and defend his master’s thesis there.
– Katarzyn Kotula did not submit her master’s thesis and did not receive a master’s degree at Adam Mickiewicz University – said the spokesperson of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Adam Mickiewicz, Malgorzata Rybczynska. PAP findings show that Kotula was an English Philology student at Adam Mickiewicz University from the 2013/2014 to 2016/17 academic year.
Katarzyna KotulaMarcin Obara / PAP
– In 1996-2000/2001, I studied for a master’s degree, but I did not defend my thesis because I got pregnant, – said Kotula. He added that after many years he had to “study again at the Baltic College in Szczecin and start majoring in English philology.”
“I graduated with a bachelor’s degree, so I have a higher education, and I went to graduate school at the Faculty of English at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań,” explained the Minister of Equality.
Kotula: I don’t have a master’s degree
He emphasized that he has completed his education in the sense that he has passed all the necessary exams. – But I did not present my candidate’s thesis and did not defend my candidate’s thesis, therefore I do not have a master’s degree – she said. As she noted, she was prevented from doing so by the “sudden illness of a loved one.”
– Since it was brought to my attention on Friday that there is incorrect information on the Master’s degree on the website of the Seimas, as soon as I found out about this error, I asked the Chancellery of the Seimas to correct it, Kotula explained.
When asked if this story is similar to the story of former president Aleksandr Kwasniewski, he replied that in his case it was a simple mistake he made unknowingly when filling out “these forms” a few years ago.
– I have never visited this website, I have never applied for positions or positions that require a master’s degree. Kotula noted that I was a student of the English department and that I have a higher education, it is true. He noted that he could not defend his thesis “for the usual reasons of life” and “there is no meaning behind it”.
Before the presidential election in 1995, Alexander Kwasniewski assured that he had a higher education and a master’s degree. It turned out that this was not true. Lublin prosecutor’s office reviewed this case at the request of a private person and found that the former president was expelled from the fifth year of studies at the University of Gdańsk. However, the prosecutor did not charge Kwasniewski “because of the low social damage of the act”.
Main photo source: Marcin Obara / PAP
